, 1887-12-07

porary and limited In Its application instead
of cnnierring continuing discretion aud
authority. No condition ought To exist
which would Justify the grant OF power To
single official upon bis jndgn ncnt oi
| its necessity, to w,uhoiu rom
an unusal way money held IN the treasury,
and thus affect. Mt his wilt, the financial
condition o' the country and II II Is deem-
ed wise to lodge IN the secretary Of the
treasury the authority IN the present juno
ture to purchase bonds, IL should be
plainly vested and provided as far as
possible with such checks and Limitations
as will define his official right aud dscre-
ton and at the same time relieve him
I from undue responsibility In considering
the question OF purchasing bonds rs a
means of returning to circu lation the sur
plus money accum ulating In the treasury.
1t should be borne In inihd that premiums
must, Of course, be paid upon such pur..
chase, that there may be large part of
these bonds held as Investments which can
not be purchased ut any price aud that a
combination of holders, who are willing to
sell, may unreasoIably enhance the cost of
such bonds to government; 1t has been
suggested that the present bonded deOt
might he refunded at less rate
o! interest and the difference between
| the old aud new securities paid in cash.
thus finding use for the surplus In the
| treasury. The success OF this plan, II Is APP
| parent must ke founded upon the voltipn
Of the holders OF the present bonds, and 1t
| Is not entirely certain that the inducement
which must be offered them would result
| IN more financial benefit To the government
| than the purchase of bonds, while the lat
| ter proposition would reduce the principal
| of the debt by actual payment, instead OF
extending it. Tho pre- position tn deposit
| the money held by the government III
banks throughout the country, for use by
| the people is IL seems to ms, an
ExCEEDISGLY OBJECTIONABLE PRINCIPLE,
| As reaching too close "A relationship be-
| tween the operations OF the government to
the business of the country, and too extern
sive IA Commingling of their money,
thus fostering All unnatural reliance IN
private business upon public funds. Ii this
scheme should be adopted 1t should only
he done as temporary expedent to meet
an urgent necessity. Legislative
and executive effort should generally be in
the opposite direction, and should have a
tendency to divorce as much and as fast as
can safely be done, the treasury department
from private enterprises. OF course it is not
expected that unnecessary and extravagant
operations will be made lCr the purpose of
avoiding the accumulation of all excess of
revenue. Such expenditures, beside the
decentralization of all just conceptions of
public duty which ii entails, emuates a
reckless iniprovidence not in the least con.
sistent with emission of our people, or
the high and beneicient purposes of our
government.
have deemed it my duty thus to bring
to the knowledge OF my countrymen, as
well as to the attention of their representa-
tves, the responsibility of legislative relief,
and the gravityIof our fnanca situation. The
failure of the congress heretofore, to provide
against the dangers which 1t was quite evil
dent the very nature ot the d ticuty must
necessarily produce, caused condition
OF financial distress and apprehension
since their last adjournment which taxed
to the utmost all the authority and exped-
tents within executive control and these
appear now to the exhausted. If disaster
results FROM the continued inaction Of con-
gress the responsibility must rest where it
belongs. Though the situation thus far
considered Is fraught with danger which
should be fully realized, and though it pre-
sents features of wrong to the people AS well
as to the country, il Is but u suit growing
out of II perfectly palpable and apparent
cause constantly reproducing the same
alarming circumstances, II congested ma
tional treasury and depleted monetary
condition in the business of the country.
1t needs hardly to be stated that while the
present situation demands remedy we
can only be saved from IA predicament in
the future by the removal OF the cause.
REMEDY SUGGESTED.
Our scheme of taxation by means OF
which this needless surplus is taken from
the people and put into the public treasury
consists of tariff ON duty levied
upon impnrtatiuns from abroad
and internal revenue taxes
lived upon the consumption OF tobacco
and spirituous and malt liquors, 1t must
be considered that none OF these taxes re-
late to things subjected to interna! revenue
taxation that are strictly speaking Necessary,
nd ~, ha no Inc f,F m.
plant on the part of consumers of the
articles, and there seems to be nothing so
we'll able to hear the burden without hard
ship to any portion of the people. But
our present tariff laws, the various, inequit-
able and illegal source OF unnecessary taxa
tion ought to be at once revised and
amended, These laws, as their primary
and plain effect, raise the price to consnm-
ers ot all articles imported and subjected to
duty, by precisely the sum paid for such
duties. Thus the amount of the duty
measures the tax paid by those who pur-
Many OF these things, however, are raised
or manufactured i'll our own country, and
the duties now levied upon foreign goods
and products are called prOtec-
tion 10 these home manufacturers,
because they render it impossible
for those of our people who are nanuiuctur-
ers, to make these taxed articles ana sell
them for price equal to that demanded
for the imported goods that have paid GUS
toms duty. SO IL happens that while COM
paratively few Use the imported articles
millions OF our people, who never use and
never saw any o. the foreign products, pur-
chase and use things of the same kind made
in this country, aud pay therefor nearly or
quite the same enhanced price which the
duty adds to the imported articles.
Those who buy imports pay the duty
charged thereon 10 the public treasury, but
h4
domestic articles of the saule class pay
sum ut least approximately equal to this
duty To the home manufacturers,
NOT \ PIECE OF INFoHMATloS.
This reference to the operation OF our tar.
iff law is not made by way of instruction,
but In order that We may be constantly re-
minded OF the manHer in which they i'm
pose burden upon those who consune do
mestic products a. well as those who
consume Imported articles aud
thus create II tax upon all our people. ltis
not proposed to entirely relieve the cOun-
II h.a.